The Apple Launch Event

Marking debut at the Apple Park’s Steve Jobs Theatre, the Apple’s launch event showcased some brilliant new technology. The hype was real, and well, we can say that Apple didn’t disappoint with the show they put up. A host of products including the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, Apple TV 4K HDR, and the Apple Watch 3 were unveiled.

The new cellular incorporation in the Apple Watch 3 is hands down revolutionary. The fact that you can carry your phone around without actually carrying your phone gives a great sense of freedom. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus come with upgrades on the previous iPhone 7 model, particularly the A11 bionic chip, wireless charging, and Augmented Reality. All in all, not a major upgrade. Or at least it appears so, and that’s because all the big changes seem to have gone into the iPhone X instead. That brings us to the most anticipated product from the launch, the iPhone X (yes, it’s the tenth anniversary of the Apple iPhone and yes, it’s the coolest alphabet in the English language and yes, it’s roman numeral for 10, thus the phone pronounced the iPhone 10. All points to Apple for having all of this add up so well).

The iPhone X is not your everyday iPhone. It’s the highest-end iPhone priced at a starting point of $999. And if I were to quote Tim Cook, the iPhone X stands as the “biggest leap forward since the original iPhone”. Now, that sounds like a big deal. But, is it really?
The Apple’s new flagship smartphone, the iPhone X comes with a dozen new features. The sharpest edge to edge OLED display, Face ID, Animoji, wireless charging, and a brand new camera. These are great features. But, will they help sell the iPhone X priced exorbitantly starting at $999?

The iPhone has always been the phone that middle-class consumers can and do own, even so alongside celebrities and billionaires and presidents. It has been an “affordable luxury”, something that lets regular people achieve phone parity with the elite. The iPhone X changes that. It can be anticipated that most iPhone buyers won’t be buying the next best phone in the world, they’ll be settling for the iPhone 8, or more likely stick to their existing phone against a modestly upgraded iPhone 8.
The thing is people could be willing to spend $750 for the best phone in the world, but probably not for the second best phone in the world (read: iPhone 8/iPhone 8 Plus). “The best phone” is a concept that transcends across narrow cost-benefit analysis. It rests on the delight of the status of having the best phone, after all. And, if the best phone goes out of your budget, consumers might go with the value-buyer approach thus settling for the $300 Android, or so to speak.

A lot of it now comes down to how Apple markets its move.

Apple’s chief design officer, Jony Ive says,

For more than a decade, our intention has been to create an iPhone that is all display. The iPhone X is the realisation of that vision. With the introduction of iPhone ten years ago, we revolutionized the mobile phone with Multi-Touch. iPhone X marks a new era for iPhone — one in which the device disappears into the experience.

Taking the conversation from there, Apple must stress on innovation. It must brand itself as an evolving disruptor in technology that’s only set to get better. The key will be to highlight the iPhone X’s design and the associated efforts Apple has been taking to create devices that will power the future. Apple must emphasize on Face ID and augmented reality experiences above everything else.

Apple, being essentially the most successful business in the world, has been a disruptor. The world could use more disruption, and thus Apple should stick to creating disruptive technologies like it has in the past, and continually focus on creating devices of the future to win people’s faith and make sales leveraging that.